During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Barry Manilow sat firmly atop the mountain of soft rock.
Manilow is married to his manager and longtime TV executive Garry Kief.
The pair wed in 2014 after 36 years together.
Thetragic reason Manilow kept his romance with Kief a secret for so longwas because he feared public backlash.
Interestingly, though, Manilow was actually briefly married 50 years before he and Kief exchanged vows.
Back in 1964, he tied the knot with a woman named Susan Deixler, his high school sweetheart.
I wasn’t ready to settle down."
It wasn’t until he met future husband Garry Kief in 1978 that everything started to click into place.
“I knew that this was it.
I was one of the lucky ones.
I was pretty lonely before that,” Manilow said.
“The reaction was so beautiful strangers commenting, ‘Great for you!’
I’m just so grateful for it.”
Not only that, but among those offering their well wishes was Manilow’s ex-wife.
I’m a private person but I’m happy for him.
I really am."
